LeadingRE, Miami Beach and Marketing Automation

The Fontainebleau in Miami Beach recently hosted LeadingRE. It’s always happens during what I like to think of as the real estate brokerage convention season. Keller Williams, with its Family Reunion, preceded it in New Orleans and RE/MAX R4 followed it in Las Vegas. If you really want to get a feel for the real estate market in America, these conferences are a great place to gauge what is really happening on the ground because the preponderance of attendees are broker-owners. Conferences that target industry leaders or tech companies or the intelligentsia of real estate are great for forward thinking, [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on LeadingRE, Miami Beach and Marketing Automation

Reducing Agent Attrition – Marketing to your Agents

Brokers across America do a great job of promoting their listings to potential home buyers and sellers with attractive flyers, online promotions, open houses, and effective website promotion, not to mention MLS promotion. Most brokers have a well-oiled system for building attractive marketing materials to sell their listings quickly. In my view, there’s a hole in the focus of marketing departments. Very few of the brokerages that we work focus on promoting their OWN brand and service offerings to their OWN agents. Brokers like to complain about the lack of adoption of tools and technologies. They wistfully talk about the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Marketing|Comments Off on Reducing Agent Attrition – Marketing to your Agents

Three Drivers of Economic Growth

Sometimes, business owners fail to understand or focus on the basic elements of growing a business. As a consulting firm, we have a distance from the business that allows us to see things that business operators often miss. The funny thing is that we miss them in our own business. I remember talking to my Uncle Albert about this as a kid. He owned a house painting business that was very successful. It afforded him the opportunity to live on Plain Street in Historic Lewiston, NY. It is a charming street of grand, three-story homes with pillared center entrances. Because [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:22-07:00February 22nd, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Marketing, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Three Drivers of Economic Growth

Be a Part of the Change!

WAV Group is a part of strategic plans very often for some of the largest MLSs and Associations in our industry. When conducting strategic plans we hear from brokers and board members that their organization is out of touch with today’s reality. So how do you get your board in touch? You can pay thousands of dollars for several of your board members to attend industry events. Many of these events can be very valuable for the content that is presented, the networking, and peer-to-peer learning. The CMLS conference and the AEI conference are two great opportunities for MLSs and Associations to get in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 18th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Our Services, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Be a Part of the Change!

Just Spell My Name Right

It’s a new year and you are, no doubt, plotting your communications strategy for 2016. We published an article about the top 10 posts of the year on Facebook recently that ignited deeper thought about communication strategies that work. Entertainment is certainly one of them. If the Disney family is the first family of Entertainment in American History, P.T. Barnum is certainly a cousin. Legend has it that he is also responsible for one of the most famous quotes in the PR business: “I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name right.” If you read the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:25-07:00January 21st, 2016|Main category, Marketing, Our Services|1 Comment

Do you have a PR plan for 2016?

Public relations may be one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood tools in the average real estate brokerage’s marketing arsenal. Yet, the more you understand public relations and how it can be fully integrated into your marketing plans and sales activities, the greater your ability will be to make both more effective. As we begin a new year, ask yourself this question: Do you have a PR plan for 2016? What is PR? It’s no wonder most people are confused when trying to describe what PR really is. Trying to find one universal definition is futile: there are dozens. Here [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:25-07:00January 21st, 2016|Main category, Marketing, Our Services|Comments Off on Do you have a PR plan for 2016?

Syndicate like you Facebook

By now, everyone has experienced social media. The pinnacle of social media is Facebook. One of the early criticisms of social media marketing is that it is essentially spamming your friends. Posting the same thing every day is not going to make it more interesting. There is a lesson to think about here...let's switch sites. Every month, MLS systems are estimated to send out 200 million emails to consumers notifying them of new and updated listings. I think most people refer to them as auto-alerts or auto-notifications. That number of 200 million grows larger when you include the number of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00November 20th, 2015|Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on Syndicate like you Facebook

5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR

This year’s REALTORS® Convention & Expo in San Diego traces its origins to the first Chicago meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges held May 12-14, 1908. One hundred and seven years later, some 20,000 real estate professionals will visit the San Diego Convention center where more than 400 organizations will display their offerings and pitch their products. 2016 promises to be a pivotal year of rapid adoption of sweeping innovations and the emergence of new powerhouses in the residential real estate matrix. Here are five hot trends to look for and listen at the workshops to learn [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:29-07:00November 11th, 2015|Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on 5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR

Brokers Need To Sharpen Their Value Story

WAV Group is re-launching a number of brokerage brands today. Re-launching a brand does not require a brand to change, but the brand communication changes. We review how the brand is communicated everywhere, but especially where the brand has the greatest reach – in your technology applications. A brand re-launch begins with a strategy to tell the story about why your brand is a good choice. We identify why your managers (employees) work for your firm so competitors do not hire them away. We define the reasons why agents (contractors) work for your firm so they cannot be recruited away. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:29-07:00November 11th, 2015|Main category, Marketing, Our Services|Comments Off on Brokers Need To Sharpen Their Value Story

Online Marketing is for Sellers, Recruiting, and Retention

It's November, the beginning of budgeting and planning for a successful 2016. WAV Group studies the online effectiveness of many of today’s leading brokers and provides audits and advisory services on optimizing these programs. The true measure of online effectiveness is closing a transaction. Unfortunately, we have observed that closing a transaction is coincidental to online marketing and not a direct correlation. The relationship between an agent and a consumer is akin to dating. Both parties must be attracted to one another. There needs to be a connection and the development of things like trust and confidence. It’s a dating [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:31-07:00November 2nd, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Our Services|Comments Off on Online Marketing is for Sellers, Recruiting, and Retention

RESO: Your job depends on it!

At the “CMLS Brings it to the Table” meeting at NAR Mid-Year, there was a great discussion led by some early adopters of the RESO Data Dictionary. They talked about the inherent benefits of creating a consistent data standard for all MLSs, Brokers and Technology Vendors. They talked about how data consistency creates an environment that will stimulate innovation and new thinking that will make it easier for REALTORS® to be successful. They talked about all how brokers will be able to operate more easily in multiple markets with a consistent data standard. Basically, our world with the RESO Data [...]

Time to Market

Shaping an idea or a strategy takes time. More importantly, it takes a well-structured catalyst that “just makes sense.” WAV Group has had the opportunity to work with some pretty fantastic visionaries on the future of real estate – powerful market makers that rethink things many times to carefully construct strategies for the greater good. The outreach with peers and competitors only drives the momentum and refines the structure. It is impressive and inspired. But these things take time to develop correctly. Upstream and the Broker Public Portal are the outcroppings of this industry-wide thinking. We are blessed to be [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:44-07:00May 22nd, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Time to Market